


Litigation

by LadyNightsong



Series: Sicut in Caelo et in Terra [4]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Deity Au, Gen, though this focuses on the Guardians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 06:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12315192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNightsong/pseuds/LadyNightsong
Summary: lit·i·ga·tionnoun: the process of taking (legal) actionNecromancy is an extremely dangerous, highly punishable crime.Winry Rockbell has failed to protect the Elrics from themselves.Riza Hawkeye has failed to be a mentor to the young Guardian as her duty called her to be.Now they've got skeletons in the closet and monsters in their nightmares. They'll just have to work to move forward.





	Litigation

Having charges, she had been told time and time again, was a difficult thing. What protecting someone with your life entailed was daunting and sometimes terrifying. Even now, warnings and thoughts from her training would occasionally flash through her mind, a poignant vision of what she had hoped was never to come. Winry Rockbell, however, proved herself able to overcome that fear and persevered. 

But nothing could have prepared her for this.

Ed- the one she was supposed to be there for, though both brothers had wormed their way into her heart- Ed and Al had been secretive the past few months, and she had known they were hiding something. Their broken-off conversations and hushed voices, their late nights and tired eyes- she knew that it would culminate in something, and she had been uneasy, but she hadn't wanted to throw a monkey wrench into their burgeoning relationship. It had been hard enough getting acclimated to the human world after forgetting it, as Guardians did after they chose to become such. (She still hadn't figured out who she had been, before.) It had been hard enough navigating their relationship and getting close to them when they had so much baggage in their past, things they carried around like shackles and chains, inexplicably their burden to carry. She had been to afraid to truly pry. But looking at them now, remembering what had been in their basement, she wished that she had. ( _ Maybe the person you had been would have asked, tact be damned, and could have prevented this _ , her mind whispered to her.  _ Maybe you failed yourself without realizing it. You’ve certainly failed them. _ ) But what her mind spewed at her in the dark was neither here nor there, and she worked to shove those thoughts aside as she collapsed into a chair. 

The secret they had been keeping locked in their minds was a plan. The progress toward locating their father had been negligible- he had covered his tracks well, and even with his journals, they had no information in regards to if anything had changed about his mission or where he had gone after setting out. So it was a plan, hatched by young boys desperate to feel their mother’s arms embracing them and to talk with her again and hear her laugh, to bring her back from the dead. Necromancy. A forbidden ritual, dangerous and dark, warned against in the books they had studied. Those references, however, had only served to plant a seed in their minds of succeeding where others had failed. But Truth- who Hohenheim had left alone in charge of the Pantheon- was not kind; he was chaos and destruction incarnate, and had made them pay for the arrogance and desperation which had fueled them. Ed had trained well, and he was powerful, as the son of the leader of deities would be, but he wasn’t Hohenheim. Winry knew that only someone of that caliber could have done what Ed attempted and created his mother (and then brother, once the price for their mistake had been paid) a new body from scratch with his powers. So what Ed had saved of Al’s soul was now bound to a suit of armor and Ed himself would soon be partly metal and gears. 

At the thought of what he would have to go through, and the thought of her failure, Winry felt heat pricking at the corners of her eyes, and felt her face beginning to screw up in tears. Crying won out over her desire to retain dignity, and she curled in on herself as tears ran down her cheeks. She barely recognized the fact that someone had sat down beside her, and it wasn't until that person laid a grounding hand on her shoulder that she raised her head to view them. Riza Hawkeye- Roy’s Guardian, and her mentor, as she was just out of training- was sitting beside her, hand on her shoulder and eyes glassy in a thousand-mile stare. Winry felt her face heating up at the prospect of confrontation with her mentor. Sadly, Winry felt as though she honestly didn’t know the woman well. Though Riza was her mentor, she had been helping track down Hohenheim, something that dragged her away from Resembool. She had offered herself to Winry in case she ever needed advice or help, and had readily and thoroughly answered any questions Winry posed to her, but Riza had still been more absent than not. The hand on her shoulder tightened, and Winry looked back up at Riza to see the woman had shaken herself out of her thoughts and was staring her directly in the eyes. Winry froze and tensed, a deer caught in headlights. Then, to her surprise, Riza broke eye contact, bowing her head. 

“I should have been here. Both for you, and for them. It was my job, and I did not do it.” Riza’s voice was soft, lighter than Winry had expected, but cuttingly intense and reporachful. Winry shivered as she got the uncomfortable sense that she was seeing the tip of an iceberg, the surface of Riza’s guilt. She couldn’t help but shake her head. 

“No…this was supposed to be my job, I should have been ready for this.” Winry’s voice was in juxtaposition to that of Riza- where her voice had been soft, Winry’s was thick, laden with feeling, and where she had been reproachful, Winry was almost pleading. “I knew they were hiding something. I  _ knew _ . And I didn’t ask, I let them give me excuses, thinking it was for the best… I didn’t want to ruin…” her voice trailed off into the silence, words failing her in the weight of her emotion. 

Riza paused, letting the revelation that Winry had realized that something was wrong sink in. Unfortunately, this changed things, though as it was Winry’s first assignment she would likely be given a measure of grace. 

“Winry,” she began, and though it was one word it held such a potent mix of disappointment and empathy that Winry had to duck her head. Yet, whatever she had been about to say, Riza just sighed. “You understand the significance of what happened, and what you did. But as your mentor, I should have been there. I failed in my responsibility to do that.” She paused, letting the words fall, ushering in a surprised silence that pervaded the room. Winry had not expected to be given quite so much grace right off the bat, and as much as she wanted to assuage Riza of her guilt, she knew that Riza wasn’t wrong. Anything she tried to placate Riza with would be merely that- meaningless placations, untruths that left a bitter taste in the mouth of the speaker and embitterment in whom they were directed at. “All we can do,” Riza continued, her voice quiet but titanium in its strength, “is learn from what we’ve done wrong. Accept responsibility for what is your doing, and work to move forward- not only in spite of that event, but because of it.” Winry’s breath caught in her throat, and she froze as she processed Riza’s words. Suddenly, she was reminded of that feeling- of the rest of the iceberg. She raised her head to look once more at Riza, shocked out of her tears, letting the words ingrain themselves into her. She was completely correct. 

“Mrs. Riza,” Winry hesitantly began, wondering if her next words were a good idea, “has something like this ever happened with you?” Riza gave her a humorless, grim smile, before opening her mouth to reply.

“Before I passed and chose to become a Guardian, Riza Hawkeye was a girl who had never been to Central and felt alone in all the world. My mother had passed, and my father might as well have been buried alongside her.” She spoke simply, as if she was just stating facts, detached. “I found my old hometown, visited the house, read her journal. She wanted a purpose in the world. She found it in religion, in the message that there was a greater purpose for her, an ultimate destination. She never spoke about her powers manifesting, but if I was given this choice, I had to have been a demigod. You know by now that most don’t discover such things about their old lives, however.” With this, she looked at Winry, who nodded. She did understand because she was in a similar situation.

“So that’s why you wanted to become a Guardian.” Winry murmured, mulling it over in her mind, honored by Riza’s trust in her. Riza nodded. 

“I was lucky enough to locate my old life’s remnants. Not everyone keeps journals like that, and not all Guardians are lucky enough to stumble upon them.” Riza mused. Winry turned to face her completely, so that they were no longer sitting side by side, but facing each other. 

“What was it like to be assigned to a high-level god? I mean, your charge being a demigod is one thing, but that’s totally different.” Winry asked, genuinely curious. 

“Well, it depends on who you’re assigned. And how long you’re able to stay with them.” Her expression loosened as she moved on to more positive memories, her jaw unclenching and shoulders starting to relax. “Not everyone I’ve been assigned to is someone who I’ve agreed with, but after many years, I’ve learned what my decision truly meant. I’ve come to an understanding about my role in the world, and how I can move on when I’ve done things I regret. Those revelations took time and suffering to come to, however, and as they’re unique to my circumstances and person you’ll have to discover those things yourself. But thankfully, I’ve been with Roy for a few centuries now, and it’s comforting to watch the back of someone I believe worthy.” Something suddenly occurred to Riza, and she looked at Winry, amused. “Sometimes it does take awhile to learn to disassociate physical appearance with age, hmm?” Winry caught herself staring, a bit shocked and embarrassed by the reminder that Riza wasn’t as young as she seemed, and found herself softly laughing even as she blushed. She felt more at ease than she had since the whole incident, and she was shocked by her own laughter, still ringing in the room seconds after she had broken off. Riza seemed to understand, giving her a gentle look, warmth and comfort making themselves at home in Winry’s heart for the moment.

“Thank you.” Winry murmured, looking down at her shoes. Riza hesitantly put her arm around Winry’s shoulders.  _ ‘How funny. Even still, I’m not entirely comfortable in the role of mentor, am I?’  _ She mused internally. 

“You’re very welcome, Winry. This is your first time experiencing something like this. One element to protecting someone is to keep moving forward. I think that if you spoke with Edward, he’d likely tell you something very similar.”

Silence reigned, but it was comfortable; not the pregnant silence after devastating news but the sunshine-warm silence between friends after nothing more needs to be said. Winry tumbled a thought around in her head, trying to find the words for the question that had been nagging at her. Eventually, she spoke.

“You said that you believe Roy ‘worthy’. How did you know? What made you decide that?” Her voice was calmer, but belied the fact that this was a topic she pondered often. Riza hummed in consideration, but she understood the underlying question that Winry was seeking the answer to. “The kind of person who would make a reliable friend, I suppose. That requires similar qualities, if not on quite this level. There needs to be mutual trust, and of course, communication. They must be willing to put their life in your hands, and if you must be confident your effort isn't in vain, or that’s for something you believe in.” Riza ran her hand through Winry’s hair, absentmindedly twirling her hair around her fingers. “There’s a reason Guardian and deity couples happen so often. If it isn't just a job or assignment, that kind of relationship is very meaningful, and not found often.” Her voice was light, almost teasing, but still contemplative. Winry nodded at her words, unable to hide a small smile. 

Winry exhaled, and she could feel some of the stress that had been weighing on her soul lift away, to be pushed out alongside the air from her lungs. It wasn’t all gone, but she hadn’t felt so light or peaceful since the event. While she knew it wasn't in the nature of these things to last, she made an effort to remember what this felt like. The soft glowing in her heart, the warmth of Riza’s arm around her shoulder, and the sounds of the muffled restless yelling from Ed and Al outside all spoke of hope, of moving towards tomorrow. She was capable of doing that. She just had to remember that she could.

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Riza,” She murmured, and the woman’s arm tightened around her shoulders, a show of solidarity. 

“You’re more welcome than you’ll ever know,” Was Riza’s soft reply, looking down at the girl sitting beside her. 

**Author's Note:**

> me??? not knowing what to do with my emotions after rewatching Simple People??? wanting to yell about edwin and royai??? its more likely than you think
> 
> honestly a part of me wonders if I did a disservice to people who struggle with things like depression in my portrayal and general message in this, so I went back and reworked it trying to be sensitive of that. If you personally think there's an issue, and want to discuss with me, this fic is already released to the world so idk how much you'd want me to do but feel free to send an ask/message to me at miraculous-stardust on Tumblr. I just ask that you be respectful. Thanks!


End file.
